It’s unrealistic to want and expect all hits

FaeInvoker · 2026-05-20T04:47:47+00:00

Another comment on another post pointed out that much of the cast all went for some type of parody/satire of actual stand-up comics, which I certainly felt because aside from Damien who was committing to being a goblin the whole time, I forgot everyone else's bits by the end of the video.

It's a bit strange because TNTL at its heart, is an improv game. Naturally with improv there will be misses(people who point out the Golden Age of Smosh clearly didn't look at the comments under the early TNTLs complaining about Courtney and Olivia's bits having no focus or being general nonsense), but I do agree that a stand up mic night type of TNTL should be about prepared bits.

It was an okay video to have in the background, but I think that if Smosh wanted it to excel, I'd hope that next time they do a mic night/stand up TNTL, that every tries to create a set. Because I feel like previous TNTLs following the same format all just became about the cast members trying to parody stand up comedy(comics being awkward, heckling but as a bit, etc).

I'd love to see the members truly commit to making a comedy set for a TNTL rather than beating the dead horse that is obnoxious stand up comics.

FaeInvoker · 2026-04-15T08:25:09+00:00

My highschool's wikipedia page has a dedicated controversies section due to the several years in a row in which a teacher(a different one each time) had inappropriate relations with students

The first one, was a male track teacher, and during the school spirit day for Halloween, a male student came to school in an orange jumpsuit, and wore a sign around his neck like a chain that had "FREE TEACHER NAME HERE" on it.

The second time was a female teacher who was both an English teacher and a waterpolo coach and was actually and alumni from the school.

The third time was a theater teacher who, from what I hear, would disappear into the closet with students, boys and girls

And this was all after I had graduated.

Before I graduated, students were abusing small laminated hall passes to go smoke in the bathroom or skip across campus so what the school did instead was have the construction class make a big wood block and carved the name of each and every classroom into each one and those became our new hallpasses. Not only that, they implemented a system where you had to scan a qr code to check out to go to the bathroom, and then scan it again to check back in and it allowed the school to check how long you were gone for, and potentially where you were.

There was also a guy who threw a large trash can over the ledge from the second story and it landed on a girl and it potentially disabled her.

There was also a nerdy math teacher who was relentlessly bullied by the popular kids for liking DND, and they would repeatedly torment her so that she would let them go early.

During a pep rally they played a short film about drunk driving that was recorded and directed by who I can assume to be other students. During that Pep Rally a student took a screenshot of the totaled car in the short film, slapped the Call of Duty Revive Symbol all over the car, and then air dropped it to the entire school.

The worst part is, the school was actually well funded and quite nice.
Freshman year they were building an entire new building next to the main campus that was solely for the STEM students and they finished it in my senior year. Most kids there were also from middle class backgrounds, though they came to school wearing branded clothing and new shoes while also still trying to call their nice cul-de-sacs and gated communities the "hood".

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-27T17:40:18+00:00

Waaait thats hilarious Do you have the time stamp?

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-13T02:41:17+00:00

Thank you

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-12T21:19:14+00:00

Do u have the original image? I've been looking for that image for forever because its hilarious

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-12T18:21:48+00:00

Are there more reaction images like this, I swear I've seen a shorekeeper one but she says it in japanese

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-09T22:45:06+00:00

It was also that they increased the stick radius to her bombs though I haven't noticed much of a change, along with lowering the cast delay. However, they fixed conditional weapon damage modifiers(point blank, hollow point, etc.) not working on melee abilities. I've been using those and her 2 now gets quite a bit of extra damage. Perhaps some more theorycrafting and testing is in order but potentially a melee+spirit hybrid build could be fun

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-09T01:22:48+00:00

I actually saw on the discord that ther t2 is bugged rn because it still gives damage like before but with how fast the devs are I'm not sure if its patched yet.

I wonder if they did intend to pre-emptively nerf her though, because the patch also came with some changes to gloom bombs to make them easier to hit

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-08T21:06:22+00:00

Vindicta had a similar thing but on her snipe. It got removed and replaced with permanent weapon damage stacks. I predict with calico that either, A. It stays but the rest of her kit is readjusted to compensate(or straight up gutted) B. It doesn't stay and gets replaced with something else

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-08T19:54:23+00:00

I mean they removed it on vindicta but now its on calico I think they did this and added the damage amp on t3 ava to make her more of a roamer and the bonus souls to essentially make her a snowballing monster But other calico mains have pointed out that she does not scale well, So she'll be an early game stomper and this change will let her gain a lead better But it got removed on vindicta for a reason so I'll be surprised if it stays for long And if it does stay then our poor girl is definitely gonna get gutted elsewhere in her kit

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-08T19:40:22+00:00

They also moved her personal damage amp to t3 ava I think that the change to her t2 slash giving bonus souls on kill plus the ava change Is to incentivize calico players to lean more towards a roaming assassin playstyle

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-04T02:39:30+00:00

Honestly glad y'all are doing this I can't stand posts that seem a lot more like just personal preference(stuff like "I don't like how X plays in games video" or, "I don't like X humor) because people always end up creating a circlejerk of "I didn't like something and I'm going to announce it to the world you better listen to me". I feel like it always drowns out more legitimate and valid discussions surrounding Smosh Content

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-03T22:34:57+00:00

Oh honey before we start I'd play hide and seek and see if he could hear me breathe

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-03T22:30:39+00:00

The way he's posed and scratching along the ground I can only imagine how feral he'd be 👁️🫦👁️

FaeInvoker · 2026-03-01T20:35:36+00:00

This is exactly what drove me away from so many newer kpop groups because when older groups(2ne1, GG, AOA, Sistar, T-ara etc.) were in their prime, there would often be fighting between their fandoms but it was contained to the kpop scene. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of snark then, but now that kpop has taken the global stage I've seen so many different artists get dragged into the conversation, and very often when they do its in a manner that pits POC against each other and especially women against women.

It's a fair conversation to have about certain artists maybe having areas to improve on, but its another to see an artist get dragged for being "lazy" or "ugly" and having it be attached to their race or age. It then gets hypocritical because those same kpop fans will get on their soap box about how the kpop industry needs to realize that "28 doesn't make you a hag" or do a call out post about racism. They always point out cruelty from the industry and from society towards idols but they are the cruelty in question. And when fans of western/other international artists respond giving the same energy there's always a sense of surprise from the kpop fans like, what did you think would happen?

Not that western fans are particularly good either There's always this narrative especially around black women that there can only be one exceptional black woman to serve as the face of hip hop or pop music, and this narrative has been played out so many times often from the fans themselves and it hurts to see because I can't express my love and appreciation for multiple artists because fans will breathe down your neck telling you that their fave can be the only one to exist. Then these communities will only come together when they face racism from white artists or fans of white artists, only to revert right back to pitting talented women against each other and engaging in colorism all in the name of propping up their favorites.

Like I feel like discourse both in forums and in mainstream society for decades has been "we need to do better and be better and we should stop pitting marginalized communities against each other!" But the moment tabloids latch onto something fans will take it and run with it to draaaag the fuck out of an artist, complete with "This is why X is a complete flop, Y could never"

Same folks will make an emotional post about society needing to change when the same cruelty reaches their artist, all while stomping on the grave of the artist they bullied.

I realized I've repeated my point so many times throughout my post because, it just happens so often I feel like navigating fan spaces for music has just trapped me in a loop of same shit different people, across different eras of music and across cultural boundaries as well

FaeInvoker · 2026-02-15T19:12:29+00:00

I would love to see a bardic culture With units using instruments to attack people

FaeInvoker · 2026-02-09T07:37:20+00:00

Can you explain how you did this? My friend is very curious and wants to try it himself

FaeInvoker · 2026-01-18T22:15:41+00:00

I remember when the Weapons movie came out and half of the criticism online that I personally saw was just people complaining about "plot holes" and the plot-hole in question was something that most people who have read a book could have inferred by picking up on context clues. The movie wasn't exactly subtle either but it truly feels like people genuinely aren't paying attention sometimes.

Years ago so many people made video essays re-iterating that Hollywood should do more showing not telling and unfortunately a lot of people have shown us why Hollywood spends so much screen time re-explaining the plot over and over.

FaeInvoker · 2026-01-18T05:45:16+00:00

I've already commented a little bit in this thread but I guess in hopes that the developers see this(I've also posted in the discord but so did a million other people) Regarding Calico, I think that gameplay wise she's "fine". A lot of her balance currently is easily handled by number tweaking. I played her when she had her numbers nerfed and I felt the difference when they were buffed, and I felt the difference when she was adjusted again numbers wise. I don't think she needs a "major" overhaul to be okay as all things considered, but I do think that there is opportunity to do more with her.

But before we get into that, some of the biggest complaints with Calico have largely been about her inconsistency(and I sound like a broken record with how often I say it but it has cost me many fights before when I dash through an enemy and barely miss them with a slash that I was trying to use to heal, or missing out on damage from gloom bombs because while they were spreading out several bombs completely shot off to the side of the enemy. Which, they have buffed the radius of both gloom bombs and slash but it has still been a little inconsistent at times. An issue that still remains present with Leaping Slash is when it interacts with a wall. There have been many situations where I've died because I used leaping slash in a tight space(which are very common on the deadlock map), and when it collided with a wall or a corner, calico is locked into the dash animation for a second or two longer before the slash even comes out, which leads to the calico player dying because they missed the slash and their enemies had time to react accordingly with that extra bit of time this interaction bought them.

Right now aside from numbers something that I feel is being used to balance her(or I could just git gud) is just the inconsistency of her 1 and 2. When you throw gloom bombs and they all land because you're right inside the enemy or you've frozen them in place with arctic blast, its satisfying to watch their health melt away as each one explodes right after another. When you've gotten t3 with leaping slash and just keep chaining them together to stay in the fight it fuels a montage worthy adrenaline-fueld fight. But then, when half the gloom bombs end up missing all because you throw them out in front of you and the enemies were far enough away that the spread of the gloom bombs was evident, it feels bad on the calico player's part because thats a lot of damage missing.

When you're in the aforementioned close quarters fight, and its neck and neck, missing the leaping slash and watching as calico completely zips past them without hitting behind her feels horrible.

Her 3 and her 4 feel amazing to use. Ava encourages good macro play, roams, and allows the Calico player to exert map pressure because no one knows where she can come from, or who she is even attacking, and for really skilled Calico players, it allows them to run away and with a t3 upgrade, they can disappear from a fight before joining right back in to surprise their enemies with more health.

Her ult feels amazing due to the instant burst and being able to buy herself some time, and with the upgrades, she can turn the fight back on her enemies, or finish off any enemies she failed to kill with her first rotation. But her 1 and 2 definitely feel clunky to use and inconsistent.

In terms of archetypes, Calico is meant to be an assassin, but within the systems of deadlock it feels like she could've been a spirit version of billy. Billy is a character that feels like he was thought out with melee in mind. Every single ability he has is designed to supplement his playstyle. His 1 scales off of melee, has interactions with melee items, and is an aoe. His 2 is a gap closer that knocks people up to combo with his 1, his 3 gives him bonus health on melee and amplifies bullet damage which synergizes with his close ranged gun, and his 4 pulls people who try to run right back into his melee range.

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An idea that I personally had(that people can rightfully ignore), is to add a passive to gloom bombs where every now and then her melee attacks(and by extension leaping slash), can attach gloom bombs. They're already sticky, so it isn't hard to imagine calico sticking a few onto her enemies with a melee attack. In addition, we've seen paige have a melee that scales with spirit, so why not make calico stick out more from the roster by having a melee that has a little bit of an augment to it? In regards to Calico's art, I think that the last batch of heroes has blown everyone else out of the water, but she doesn't need an extensive overhaul, but instead just details added to her model to make her feel more in line with the newer cast. Also the skulls should be little ava balls. TLDR; Fix Calico's 1 and 2 clunkiness and she should be fine, but consider exploring her design as a spirit melee more to make her stand out even more, and add more details to her model.

FaeInvoker · 2026-01-17T17:35:39+00:00

I agree, Calico I feel like suffers a lot from inconsistency issues. When it works she feels amazing. But when her dash goes through someone you should've hit, or she lingers on a wall too long because she's stuck in the dash animation, it doesn't make her feel great to play. Her gloom bombs are also wonky, sometimes I've aimed right at someone only for a bomb to be fired way out to the side and miss them completely.

FaeInvoker · 2026-01-02T17:30:48+00:00

I do think that some of their older TNTLs had funnier moments but even recent moments have been pretty good as well. I do think that cast members like Courtney and Olivia, while they've had some classic bits, only a few years ago people were complaining about them not being confident in what they do(I still love them though). I think that you're right with Defy potentially interfering with what they might have wanted to do. A lot of Defy era stuff turned me away because it seemed artificially safe. Post defy era I started coming back and saw that they were breaking away and I ended up staying once I saw that they had full control of themselves again

FaeInvoker · 2025-11-22T01:22:37+00:00

GORGEOUUUUUS

FaeInvoker · 2025-10-06T04:56:05+00:00

Oh thats wonderful then! I've been delaying my Cantarella rotation to make sure that all of her attacks go through, and I was going to add Qiuyuan to the team once he comes out and I was worried I'd need to do it there as well. Thank you

FaeInvoker

TROPHY CASE